Nearly three weeks ago, the Los Angeles Lakers traded D'Angelo Russell, who has struggled since the start of this season, along with forward Maxwell Lewis and three second-round draft picks to the Brooklyn Nets for forward Dorian Finney-Smith and guard Shake Milton. On Friday, they got their first look at Russell in a different uniform when the Nets visited them at Crypto.com Arena.
Finney-Smith, as well as Anthony Davis, were ruled out prior to the opening tip, while the Nets were also missing several players, including leading scorer Cam Thomas and second-leading scorer Cameron Johnson. But if the Lakers, who often seem to play down to the level of their competition, thought this would be an "easy" game, they would be mistaken.
Despite a sluggish start to the game, the Lakers went on a 17-5 run in the second quarter to take control, and they led 51-45 at halftime despite having lots of trouble making shots. Overall, this game was a slugfest that the Nets mucked up in an effort to win ugly while short-handed, and at times, it looked like the referees were allowing a lot of physicality. The Nets hounded the Lakers defensively, both on the perimeter and near the basket, and while Los Angeles went up 100-92 with 3:45 left in the fourth quarter, the Nets fought back, and it was nervous time down the stretch.
This was a revenge game for Russell, who led Brooklyn with 19 points and eight assists off the bench, and with time running down, he found himself with the basketball and the opportunity to be the hero and stick it to his old team. His new squad trailed 102-101, and with 4.1 seconds left, he launched a long 3-pointer that looked like it had a chance of going through the cords. But it missed, and L.A. escaped with its second straight win.
Next up for the Purple and Gold: a "road" game against the Los Angeles Clippers at the brand-new Intuit Dome in Inglewood. With a 22-17 record, they will have the opportunity to move into fifth place in the Western Conference past the Clippers, who currently hold that spot with a 23-17 mark.
When the Lakers went to Hachimura offensively, he was reasonably aggressive, both in terms of putting up perimeter shots and attacking closeouts off the dribble. But he could've been more aggressive, not to mention efficient, in order to prevent the Nets from having any real shot at winning this game.
He ended up shooting 4-of-10 from the field and 1-of-4 from 3-point range, giving him 10 points. But he did have a solid six rebounds, as well as four assists and one steal, to help L.A.'s cause.
Starting in place of Davis, who has been dealing with plantar fasciitis, Hayes showed good energy and ended up taking down a game-high nine rebounds. He made three of his seven shot attempts to score six points, and he also chipped in one assist.
He left the game momentarily with what looked like a hurt shoulder, but he returned and played 33 minutes. This is the type of basketball the Lakers would like to see from Hayes on a consistent basis, whether he plays 33 minutes or three minutes.
Christie wasn't exactly bashful about getting up shots in Davis' absence, but he had trouble hitting them. He went 2-of-12 in the first half, and perhaps knowing that this wasn't his night, he took just one more shot in the second half. He ended up with seven points, three rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes, and he also got the game-winning defensive stop by contesting Russell's 3-point attempt just before the final horn.
With Davis out, Reaves picked up the slack big time. He had 16 points in the first half and 23 through three quarters, but he saved his best for the final frame. That's when he truly went into volcano mode and ended up with 38 points, which was a new career-high. Down the stretch, he continually worked off the dribble one-on-one and burned Brooklyn time and time again, and he seemingly couldn't miss. For the game, he went 13-of-23 overall and 4-of-8 from downtown while making all eight of his free throw attempts.
It took every bit of Reaves' career-best effort for the Lakers to win this game, and it took every ounce of energy and effort for Reaves to put forth this career-best effort. By the end of the game, he was notably exhausted, but he is one player who will look to bust through his physical and mental walls for the good of his team.
Ever the perfectionist, he noted after the game that he missed his last four shots and those misses were the reason Russell had a chance to sink the Lakers. It is that type of "be 1% better than yesterday" mindset that should lead to more scoring eruptions like this one.
Lost in the hoopla over Reaves' latest outstanding performance was a strong one in its own right from James. He paced himself well while showing solid energy throughout, and he scored 10 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter when the Lakers really needed them. On the night, he made 12 of his 17 field-goal tries and four of his six 3-point attempts while also contributing eight assists, seven rebounds, two blocks and one steal.
The one blemish for James was his five turnovers. He had a couple of turnovers early in the game that were somewhat careless on somewhat lazy or ill-advised passes, but overall, he was his usual self in his third game in five nights.
Vincent was just 1-of-5 from 3-point land, but overall, he had another good performance. Two nights after scoring 14 points against the Heat, his former team, he put up 10 points on 4-of-8 overall shooting, to go along with three assists. Defensively, he was active, as he often is, which resulted in two steals and two blocks in 29 minutes.
Knecht, the supposed sharpshooting rookie, continues to be unable to throw a pea into the Pacific Ocean while standing ankle-deep in the waters of the Pacific. He missed all four of his shot attempts and scored only two points on free throws, while adding one rebound and one assist in 18 minutes.
In his first game as a Laker, the big man, who was signed to a two-way contract earlier this week, showed solid effort on the boards and on the defensive end. He came up with four rebounds and two blocks, and he did a decent job of making multiple efforts to contest shots near the rim and box out.
In seven minutes, Milton made no contribution on the stat sheet and didn't even attempt a single shot.